Arresting and turning mechanism for sheets



July 16, 196 K. G. HOER 3 9 ARRESTING AND TURNING MECHANISM FOR SHEETS Filed July 28, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 16, 1968 K. e. HOER ARRESTING AND TURNING MECHANISM FOR SHEETS Filed July 28, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,392,974 ARRESTING AND TURNING MECHANISM FOR SHEETS Kenneth George Hoer, Beckenham, Kent, England, as-

signor to Muirhead & Co. Limited, Beckenham, Kent, England, a British company Filed July 28, 1966, Ser. No. 568,563 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Aug. 24, 1965, 36,377/ 65 2 Claims. (Cl. 271-86) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An arresting and turning mechanism for sheets and more particularly moist or sticky sheets in which the individual sheets received from the feeding mechanism are guided into a vertical position and thereafter displaced from such position onto a horizontally positioned convex shaped support for the stacking of the sheets.

This invention relates to an arresting and turning mechanism for sheets.

When a succession of moist or sticky one side (photoemulsion) sheets is being fed to a stacking area, the possibility exists that the sheets will adhere together and that it will be impossible to separate them without damage if the sticky sides touch.

It is an object of the invention to provide a stacking mechanism which will, as far as possible, avoid this possibility.

It is a further object to provide a stacking arrangement in which the natural tendency of moist or sticky sheets to curl on drying is resisted.

In one aspect, the invention consists in an arresting and turning mechanism for sheets comprising means for guiding the individual sheets received from a feeding mechanism into a vertical position and means subsequently operable to rotate the individual sheets from the vertical position onto .a support in a generally horizontal stacking position.

Conveniently, the support is of convex shape for sheets to be stacked thereon which tend to curl on drying in the opposite direction, so that the natural gravitational forces resist the curling.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in vertical section of an arrangement according to the invention taken along line I-I of FIGURE 2, the view looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 2 is a view in front elevation.

In the drawing there is shown an end plate 1 and a back plate 2 extending between the end plate and the corresponding opposite end plate (not shown).

Between the secured end plates 1 there extends a convex upward bottom plate 3 terminating at its inner end in a V-shaped portion 3a.

On the inside of the back plate 2 and hooking over the top there is an inclined guide plate 4 the lower edge of which is bent back and down to form a support for a horizontally inwardly projecting rubber buffer 5 before being bent 'back and down again to rest against the back plate.

In the space behind the V-shaped part 3a and within the back plate 2 there is mounted a solenoid 6 secured to the back plate 2. The armature of the solenoid attaches over a spring link 7 pivotally attached to a link 9a which is rigidly attached to a shaft 9 extending between the pivoting in the end plates 1.

A link 8 which is rigidly attached to the shaft 9 is pivotally attached to a generally vertical link 10 the upper end of which is provided with a short link lever 11 which is rigidly secured to an upper shaft 12 by means of a screw 13.

Rigidly attached to the lower shaft 9 there is a bottom flap 14 conveniently of transparent plastic sheet and extending upwardly with a slight inward bend at the top to rest against rubber buffer 5 in its normal position. The slight inward bend is to avoid the flap sticking to the paper surface in the lowered position. The cut away shape (FIGURE 2) of this flap and this bend ensure that two edge points of the flap rest against the paper edges only.

Rigidly attached to the upper shaft 12 there is a topflap 15 generally downwardly and inwardly inclined in the position shown and also conveniently of transparent plastic sheet.

Thus, in the position shown the flaps 14 and 15 form a guide which will direct the lower edge of a sheet 16 fed from a roller 17 into the V-shaped portion 3a wherein the sheet will rest vertically.

After an interval of time, the normal-1y engaged solenoid 6 may be released.

This will rotate the lower shaft 9 in an anti-clockwise direction and the upper shaft 12. in a clockwise direction due to the gravitational pull of flaps or a spring (not shown). The bottom flap 14 as well as the top flap 15 will turn to the left in the drawing, thus turning the sheet about its lower edge to rest on the bottom plate 3.

The invention is of special application to sheets of developed photographic paper.

The picture side would be on the right of the sheet in the vertical position in which some drying will occur and uppermost in the stacked position in which the sheet would tend to curl concavely upwardly but would be straightened by gravity and even curved in the opposite direction owing to the shape of the bottom plate 3.

The catching position is when the solenoid is energized; the normal position is de-energized .as shown dotted (FIG- URE 1). The vertical wet paper tends to collapse if left too long in this position and this would cause a failure to stack evenly. The solenoid is therefore de-energized just after the paper drops into the 3a V of bottom plate.

The invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to the showings in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made therein so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An arresting and turning mechanism for sheets and more particularly moist or sticky sheets, comprising a horizontally positioned convex shaped support component for the stacking of sheets, and means for guiding individual sheets into a vertical position relative to the support component and thereafter turning the individual sheets from such vertical position onto the support component, said last named means including a lower flap pivotally mounted adjacent the lower end thereof for movement from a substantially upright position to .a substantially horizontal position overlying at least a portion of the support component, an upper flap pivotally mounted in proximity to its upper end for movement fro-m a substantially upright position to a substantially horizontal position, means interconnecting the upper and lower flaps for movement in unison, and further means operably con nected to at least one of the flaps for imparting movement thereto, said flaps in the substantially upright position providing a chute for maintaining a sheet in a vertical position and upon movement of the flaps to the substantially horizontal position, the lower flap turns the sheet about its lower edge to rest upon the support component.

2. The arresting and turning mechanism for sheets as 3 4 claimed in claim 1, in which said means interconnecting References Cited the upper and lower flaps for movement in unison in- UNITED STATES PATENTS cludes a link rigidly connected to the pivotal mounting of 321 608 7/1885 Hyde the lower flap, a generally vertically extending link piv- 5 1,949:152 2/1934 gfig 271 80 otally attached at one end to the free end of said rigidly connected link, a lever pivotally attached to the other end FOREIGN PATENTS of the generally vertically extending link and means rigid- 769,542 8/1934 Francely securing the other end of the lever to the pivotal mount- EDWARD A SROKA Primar Examiner ing of the upper flap. y 

